First Smartphone In Space, STRaND-1, To Test If Screams Are Audible In A Vacuum (VIDEO)

That's exactly what England's University of Surrey’s Surrey Space Centre (SSC) and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) hope to test, using a Google Nexus One, a smartphone built on the Android platform. The phone was successfully launched into orbit on Feb. 24.

To test this, the phone has been loaded with screams, solicited via an online contest, that will be played in orbit. The phone's microphone will then register any vibrations produced, and report back.

Per the BBC, STRaND-1 will carry out numerous other tests, as well. An app loaded on the device will record the strength of Earth's magnetic field at various points, and a program that utilizes the phone's camera will establish the device's location above the Earth.

Perhaps more important, notes Engadget, will be the experiment's examination of the durability of commercial items in space, a rigorous testing environment by nearly any standard.

After the experiments conclude, the phone will slowly drop into a lower orbit and will eventually combust when it enters the atmosphere, a process estimated to take less than 25 years. Until then, it looks like E.T. has a brand new way to "phone home."